If you're looking for an adventure in the morally grey, and a crash course of the human condition, this is the story for you! What is good and evil? Where is that line drawn, and who decides that? Packed with humor, danger, feels, and awkward relati...
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They were sitting on the corner to Tim's house in Tanner's car, and Rachel leaned against the window, staring out at the sun as it crawled further into the sky. It had been silence for a while now. The night prior hadn't gone well, and Tanner had kicked her out and sent her home when Julian had started to act out of line. At least that was how Tanner had referred to it. All she'd seen was a kid desperate for friends and physical touch. She wasn't sure how a hug had been that bad.
That was why they were sitting in angry silence. Tanner was upset that she had prompted a dangerous monster to touch her, and she had argued that he wasn't that bad. She was supposed to meet with her gang for Christmas morning, but she couldn't quite bring herself to leave with Tanner this angry. If Tanner wasn't so opposed to harming women, he'd have tossed her out of the car, she knew.
Tanner was fuming, twisting his hands on the steering wheel even though the car had been off for a while. The way he kept turning his hands, Rachel wondered if he imagined he was wringing a towel... or Julian's neck.
Tanner was also freezing. There was something too stubborn in him to turn the car back on and use the heat after he'd already turned it off. She was wrapped in a scarf and tucked in her coat, but he only had on a light jacket. His cheeks and nose were pink, as were his knuckles on the steering wheel.
What could she say? Anything she could think of would start an argument. Apologizing would be met with deaf ears after the way she'd defended Julian. Trying to defend anything she'd done would get her yelled at, and she wasn't really sure what Tanner was mulling around in his head.
"I know you're angry at me–"
"I'm not," Tanner cut her off, but his tone begged to differ.
Rachel sighed, throwing a puff of steam into the air.
"I can't be angry with you," Tanner said, running a hand tightly through his hair, something he did often when stressed. "That's just how you are, and hating you for something that is the core of your being, is... contrary." Tanner let out a heavy, steam-filled breath. "I do want to smash that shit's face in. He has to sleep sometime."
Rachel frowned.
"I want to, but I won't. I know it would break your heart if the little rat was harmed because of you." Tanner narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the steering wheel momentarily. Can I touch you?" It was a strange thing for him to ask.
"Yes?" She held out her hand to him and he took it as acceptance and moved.
The man finally turned the keys in the ignition, but only for the electricity to shift his seat back as far as possible from the steering wheel. Tanner unclipped her seatbelt, and as soon as she was free of its confines, he pulled her right out of her chair.
Rachel gasped for air as he crushed her to his chest and kissed the side of her face. His hold on her was so tight that it was hard to breathe but it was manageable.
